Judge orders Demjanjuk be deported to the Ukraine
The former automaker was accused of being a notorious Nazi guard.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- An immigration judge ordered Wednesday that John Demjanjuk, a retired auto worker accused of being a Nazi concentration camp guard, be deported to his native Ukraine.
Demjanjuk, 85, of suburban Seven Hills, has been fighting for nearly 30 years to stay in this country. He was suspected of being the notoriously brutal guard known as Ivan the Terrible and was nearly executed in Israel.
Chief U.S. Immigration Judge Michael Creppy ruled that there was no evidence to substantiate Demjanjuk's claim that he would be tortured if deported to his homeland.
Demjanjuk can appeal the ruling to the Board of Immigration Appeals within 30 days.
Demjanjuk lost his U.S. citizenship after a judge ruled in 2002 that documents from World War II prove he was a Nazi guard at various death or forced labor camps.
His attorney had argued at a hearing last month that sending Demjanjuk back to the Ukraine would be like throwing him "into a shark tank."
The U.S. Department of Justice has said there was no evidence to back up fears of torture, and Judge Creppy agreed in his ruling Wednesday. The judge said Demjanjuk should be deported to Germany or Poland if the Ukraine does not accept him.
John Broadley, Demjanjuk's lawyer, said Judge Creppy's ruling Wednesday is the judge's final order in the case. It was required before the judge's prior ruling in June could be appealed. That ruling started the process for deportation by saying the government could deport Demjanjuk.
Broadley said he hasn't read the entire Wednesday ruling but that Demjanjuk will appeal Judge Creppy's earlier decision.
Long process
The United States first tried to deport Demjanjuk in 1977, accusing him of being Ivan the Terrible at the Treblinka concentration camp. Demjanjuk was extradited to Israel, convicted and sentenced to hang, but the Israeli Supreme Court found that someone else apparently was Ivan.
Demjanjuk returned the United States and his U.S. citizenship was restored before being lifted again in 2002.
The current case is based on evidence uncovered by the Justice Department alleging he was a different guard. Demjanjuk has denied the allegations.
Broadley has said the U.S. government never sufficiently disavowed its previous claim that Demjanjuk was Ivan.
"We have a situation the U.S. government created, and now he still carries a blood scent of Ivan the Terrible and this would be like throwing him with that blood scent into a shark tank," Broadley said at the Nov. 29 hearing.